Does God Roll Dice?

Albert Einstein is often quoted as saying that "God does not play dice," claiming an orderly and predictable structure to the universe. Today, advances and presumptions in the field of quantum mechanics pose a serious challenge to such a position. It's a challenge not only for nuclear physicists, but also for Christian theologians who work to explain God's providence for the world.

In Does God Roll Dice? noted Jesuit scholar Joseph Bracken claims that something like "directed chance" (Teilhard de Chardin) is God's normal mode of operation in a world always perilously poised between order and chaos. Bracken adopts the relatively new concept of self-organizing or self-correcting systems out of the natural and social sciences to deal with controversial issues in the ongoing religion and science debate. At the same time he deliberately keeps the language and context of the book suitable for the intelligent non-professional reader.

Joseph Bracken, SJ, is professor emeritus of theology at Xavier University in Cincinnati, Ohio. He has published ten books and more than ninety articles in academic journals in the general area of philosophical theology/philosophy of religion. His most recent books include Christianity and Process Thought: Spirituality for a Changing World (Templeton Foundation Press, 2006), God: Three Who Are One (Liturgical Press, 2008), and Subjectivity, Objectivity and Intersubjectivity: A New Paradigm for Religion and Science (Templeton Foundation Press, 2009).